So this officially puts me one day behind where I want to be…

February 11, 2004, 1:47 AM

After the successful room-stripping yesterday, where I took down all the wallhangings in the entire room, now we have to patch all the nail holes.

And why does this put me back a day? Well, the spackle I found in the garage turned out to not be nearly as fresh as I’d hoped. I figured it was still nice and squishy like it should be on the inside, but noooo… it was tough and rubbery, and not even a little water could fix that. All I made was a mess, which I had to then clean up. So that puts spackling back a day, as I now have to buy some fresh spackle after work. I have a nice putty knife set that I got at work tonight, but no spackle. Excellent planning on my part. NOT.

Also, just so you know, if you really want some great values on this stuff, the brand you want to look for is “Mainstays”. I’m currently swearing by it. And when it comes to light bulbs, you want “Great Value”.

Still, once I get some spackle, I’m slathering it all over the walls in here. And this place needs a lot of it.

I did, however, get something finished. I removed the videotape shelves. I learned today that we never used anchors when we hung the shelves, which meant they came off really easily when it came time to remove them. All I had to do was unscrew them from the wall, and they’re gone.

Also, some progress photos of the same locations I’ve been showing you…

You can see now how much difference the wallhangings make. The pictures I posted yesterday, despite there being missing furniture and missing junk, still make the place look lived in and welcoming. Now, with the pictures gone, it looks unwelcoming and uninhabited. Plus considering that every imperfection on the walls and in the paint job is now on display, it really looks weird. Notice in the photo of the former videotape wall that some of the paint has a greenish hue. Don’t know how that came about, but then again, that whole side of the room needs a paint job really badly.

Still, I wish I had the spackle.

Also, this is totally unrelated to the rest of this entry, but the powers that be finally revealed the signs for a detour around Wayne Avenue in Stuarts Draft. And they made a big goof on the signs. Wayne Avenue is a secondary route in Virginia’s numbering, which means that the shield is a plain white circle. On these detour signs, where they detoured it onto route 608 (another secondary route) and US 340, they accidentally used the US Highway shield. See?

And I took the photo with my cell phone on the way to work. That’s a BIG road blooper there.